The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team dropped a 68-63 decision tonight to visiting Utica College in a pivotal Empire 8 Conference matchup.

 

With the loss, Fisher falls to 15-9 overall, but more importantly, it now has a 7-8 record in the Empire 8. Utica improves to 16-8, 10-5 and clinches the No. 3 seed in the Empire 8 Conference Championship with tonight's win. Fisher must win on Saturday against Elmira College and hope Elmira can defeat Nazareth College on Tuesday to earn the No. 4 seed.

 

In a game that features 16 lead-changes, Utica took the lead for good with just under one minute left on a put-back layup from James McClendon. The Pioneers went 6-for-6 from the line in the closing moments to preserve the win. While Utica was solid from the line (the Pioneers shot 14-for-18 for the game), the Cardinals were anything but, going 10-for-24 (41.7%) from the charity stripe.

 

Fisher, who led 33-26 at intermission, went up by 10 early in the second half at 37-27, but the Pioneers got back in the game with an 11-0 run over the next two minutes.   The Pioneers used an 8-0 run to go up 50-44 with 9:37, but the Cardinals battled back and tied the game at 52 on a layup from Matt Newman with 7:10 remaining.

  

For Fisher, Ozell Franklin finished with 21 points. Michael Wopperer finished with 11 rebounds, eight points and four blocked shots.

 

Fisher will return to action at 4 p.m. on Saturday and will host Elmira College in the final game of the 2008-2009 regular-season.